The video posted above was filmed since January 2020 by Pastor Wendell Jeffery of Region 4, Guyana, South America. At that time, Pastor Jeffery was on holiday in Suriname. But upon seeing law and order in the bus parks in Suriname, which starkly contrasted with the mayhem at the bus parks in his own country, Pastor Jeffery’s patriotic spirit was ignited and he decided to do some work.
The ardent citizen took out his mobile phone and started to do a narrated video explaining how peace, law, and order is maintained at the bus parks in Suriname.
To put this into context, I’ll reprint below an article I had posted on the Guyana, South America Facebook Page just a weeks ago about chaos and disorder at one of the bus parks in Guyana.
The East Bank Bus Park
Published on the 6th of July, 2023
The East Bank Bus Park is located along Lombard Street right opposite Mohameds Enterprise. It is, unfortunately, one of the most lawless, disorderly, and chaotic places to be.
In the afternoon hours, from 4pm onwards, when workers clock out of work and are heading home, there are way more people than the buses can take.
There are different buses for different stops example Grove, Diamond, Herstelling, Mocha, etc. There is no designated parking places for these stops. Instead, a bus pulls up, empties its passengers and gets ready to refill. A tout runs up and starts shouting in a loud voice telling the people where the bus is reaching. The people scramble into the bus, jam-packed, often overloaded, and the bus takes off. But not without first paying the tout.
How hard would it be to designate parking spots for each stop and let the bus fill in a sequential, orderly manner?
The situation on the East Bank bus park is reflective of a high level of stupidity and low levels of intelligence.
End Quote
There! I’ve said a mouthful! I’ve corroborated the idea of Pastor Jeffery. But the troubling thing is that this wayward and backward system has been happening at Guyana’s public transportation parks for decades. This system evolved shortly after Guyana was granted independence from Britain. It is sadly one of the great achievements of independent rule. And this has been happening not only at bus parks, but car parks as well. What’s worse is that citizens have been crying out to the Traffic Chief, Guyana Government, and all relevant authorities to remedy the situation for decades. Unfortunately, our voices have been falling on deaf ears. Is the Guyana Government really so callous and indifferent to the voice of its citizens? Is the Traffic Chief really so brain dead that he cannot step up and establish law and order at Guyana’s parks up to today?
Another Example
In neighboring Brazil, as shown in the photo below, the taxis are assigned slots and lined up to be filled sequentially. No touting, fighting or tug of war over passengers. Perhaps Guyana is the only country in South America where such lawlessness is exercised at bus and taxi parks.
How will we, as a booming oil economy, promote tourism in Guyana with systems of lawlessness like these? This publication understands that order has been established at some car and bus parks, such as the UG bus park, but many still operate with impunity in this disorderly and chaotic way.
How hard would it be to designate established parking places for each route and destination of bus and car, stipulating that each vehicle should be filled in a sequential manner, and make it law that this system must be followed? How hard would it be to impose heavy fines for anyone breaking this law?
Is it any wonder that Guyana, with some of the greatest tourism attractions in the world, get way less tourists than most of its Caribbean counterparts?
Team Guyana, South America reiterates our call on the Guyana Government and the traffic department of the Guyana Police Force to establish law and order at all bus and car parks across Guyana.
